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Ask HN: What's the going rate for software internships?
6 points by mrbird on Jan 25, 2013 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments
Obviously, it depends on experience, location, and field. I'm curious what people are finding/expecting for software engineering internships, especially at the undergrad and graduate levels.


Summer after junior year of high school, small company: $7.25, eventually raised to $10.50.

Summer after freshman year of college, late-stage startup acquired by IBM while I was there: $15, free snacks and drinks and Friday lunches.

College in general, startup: By contract, but "Aim for $15-20 per hour".

My friend, Bay Area, Yahoo: $30.

Me, this summer, anywhere: Asking for $1000+ / week, expect to get it.

In short: It depends.


Freshman Year - $18/hr doing C/Java at a fortune 500.

Sophomore Year - $20/hr doing C/Java at same fortune 500.

Junior Year - $22/hr doing Python at same fortune 500 but different group

Senior Year - $16/hr doing C# at a defense contractor

Masters Degree - $32/hr at original fortune 500 in a Tier 2 support role.

My Junior year, IBM Extreme Blue offered me $24/hr and $1000 for moving expenses for a summer internship in Austin, Texas (coding C#).

While working on my masters degree I had a small software shop offer me $12/hr to code C for them.

All jobs in Raleigh, NC. I had 2 years of professional development experience (perl) at a bank in Charlotte prior to college. A lot of the larger companies pay you based on some combination of credit hours completed divided by total credit hours for degree.


I didn't go to college but as a front end dev I've made anywhere from $15 an hour to $80 the past year. It's been mostly contract projects however and not a big tech company. Your experiences will vary based on what you want and location but the money's out there if you go after it.


Like you say — it depends.

In the bay area, I've seen from $15—$40/hour. In my home town (Kansas City) and college town (St. Louis), I've seen between $8 and $20.


I had two internships over two summers, and each one was worth $18k for the duration.


Undergrad

1st year summer - 12$/hour (Toronto)

2nd year summer - 30$/hour + housing (SF)




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